Excitement, we’re cooking Sfingi today and the kids are already hyped up like they‘ve eaten a bowl of sugar. Cooking up some love, Carina is learning to cook with Nonna and Daddy.
I watch them giggling and adding a bit of this and a bit of that. They whip up the mixture in no time and without weighting or measuring any of the ingredients.
My mother in law Concetta came to Australia from the island of Salina in Sicily when she was only a girl not much older than Carina.
It was her mother who taught her the recipe in much the same way. What is added to this recipe today is passion for good food and the connection between four generations.
So it seems there are as many ways to make Sfingi as there are Italians.
My mother in law makes Sfingi with sultanas, of course my daughter thinks it’s a great idea to make them with chocolate chips.
It just depends on how you were taught and where you were born, the basic batter mixture remains roughly the same.
Each one has a different shape (just like clouds) and our children love looking for ones shaped like dinosaurs, sea horses, dragons, dogs, spiders or what ever the imagination comes up with. They are best eaten piping hot…
Buon Appetito
Ingredients:
5 cups plain flour
2 – 3 teaspoons yeast
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 – 3 cups water
1 pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Preparation:
- Mix all ingredients until blended.
- Cover and leave mixture to rise for approx 30 minutes
- Pour oil to depth of 2 to 3 inches into pan; heat over medium flame.
- Drop batter by tablespoons in hot, deep oil.
- If oil is hot enough, sfingi will cook and turn over without help.
- Fry until golden brown.
- Drain on paper towels.
- Combine powdered sugar and cinnamon.
- Roll warm sfingi in powdered sugar and cinnamon mixture.
- Best served warm!